Young Lazarus
by tigerlily124
Summary: The TARDIS crew mourns the loss of Adric, victim of the coldly logical cybermen. Tegan for one is determined that Adric be saved. Can the Doctor in fact save Adric, or will the price of the phoenix prove too much to bear?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an image that has been in my head for a long time. Like Tegan or hate her, this scenario seems to fit with her personality. I will try to maintain a reasonable update rate on this story. It is not likely to be very long and the chapters will therefore prove somewhat short. Doctor Who is not mine and never will be. Some of the dialogue from the original serial 'Time-Flight' is replicated here for the purpose of authenticity. The rating is for some profanity. And now I give you my first Doctor Who story: Young Lazarus.

The three stared, transfixed with horror as the freighter carrying Adric accelerated, the outer hull crackling with the white hot flames of reentry. It was over in seconds with a brilliant white flash easily visible from space. Had any of the three watchers had the heart to see it, it would have been beautiful, a brilliant white globe expanding outward at a terrific rate, followed by a wall of dust and debris that blotted out the sky like some monstrous storm. _I always meant to come back and see what put an end to the dinosaurs_, thought the Doctor, _now I wish I'd never seen it. _The Doctor's breathing hitched as he was overcome with a wave guilt and grief but outwardly his face remained calm, the defense mechanism of one with many enemies. Tegan at last was released from her state of frozen horror and turned to find the Doctor staring blankly at the screen. She approached slowly, 'Adric, Doctor!' she rasped. The Doctor remained staring. Tegan turned into Nyssa's shoulder and both of them began crying. The Doctor looked on. _Yet someone else that I have failed. Oh Adric, I'm sorry._

The Doctor closed the TARDIS doors wearily, "Crew of the freighter is safely returned to their own time."

"Cyberfleet dispersed," Nyssa added bleakly.

Tegan, had had enough, "Great!" she said sarcastically, "you make it sound like a shopping list! Ticking off things as you go. Aren't you forgetting something rather important?" Here, her tone began to grow accusatory, "Adric is dead!"

"Tegan, please." Nyssa interjected. She was aware that the Doctor was grieving in his own way and wished to prevent a potential fight.

"We feel his loss as well," the Doctor said quietly.

Tegan drew herself up further, "Well you could do more than grieve," she spat, "you could go back!" The Doctor's face went blank.

"Could you?" Nyssa asked softly.

"No," the Doctor said and turned away, conversation over as far as he was concerned.

"Surely the TARDIS is quite capable," Nyssa reasoned.

"We could change what happened if we materialize before Adric was killed!" Tegan insisted.

"And change your own history?" the Doctor asked.

"Look," Tegan said, determined to make her point, "the freighter could still crash into Earth, that doesn't have to be changed. Only Adric doesn't have to be on board."

The Doctor shook his head firmly, "There are some rules that should never be broken even with the TARDIS. You have no idea what you're asking me to do."

Tegan had always possessed a flash fire temper and she felt it ignite now. She directed all of her hurt and anger onto the Doctor. "Why won't you save Adric?" she yelled. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but she overrode him. "Oh but of course you wouldn't tell the two puny mortals. We couldn't possibly understand the big, all-powerful time lord could we?"

The Doctor's lips thinned. In this particular regeneration, he found it somewhat harder to keep his own temper. He forced himself to calm and to think rationally. He determined that it was best to let Tegan pour out her rage. Perhaps then she would begin to accept and to heal. He held his tongue.

"You never cared for Adric did you Doctor?" She raged.

The Doctor's voice dropped in volume, "Tegan, that simply isn't true," he assured.

Tegan laughed hysterically, "Well then," she sneered, "nice to see how little we matter to you." She looked at the Doctor in disgust, "Did you feel _anything_ when Adric died or was it just business as usual? Wipe the mud off of your boots and continue on as if nothing had happened. For someone with two hearts, you are the most heartless son of a bitch I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"

The Doctor's face had gone white, he stood stricken, as if the words had cut him to the heart, immobile and presently unable to speak. Nyssa thought that things had gone far enough. She put a hand on Tegan's shoulder, but this time Tegan ignored her. Her anger had yet to run its course.

"Lately you and Adric were always fighting," she hissed, "maybe _that's_ why you won't save Adric! You're glad that he's dead aren't you? Well it should have been _you_ on that freighter!"

The Doctor's face paled further, "What if I told you that saving Adric could have catastrophic consequences for us all? For me as well?"

Tegan shook her head rapidly, "Nothing is more important than saving Adric. I don't _care_ about anything else!"

"Nyssa?" The Doctor slowly turned to her for an opinion.

"Doctor, surely getting Adric back is worth the risks," she said quietly.

The Doctor sighed and then spoke so softly that his two companions could barely hear him, "So be it."


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor stood silently, lost in thought for a moment before his head snapped up and he moved over to the control panel. He quickly set coordinates and set the ship in motion. A short moment later, the ship landed and he glanced at the viewer. Perfect. This was the freighter shortly before the TARDIS crew had arrived.

He fixed both girls with a stern look, in command once again, "Now I'm going to need some space. I want the two of you to go over there," he waved vaguely at the wall near the hat stand. "Stay there no matter what happens and for heaven's sake _don't touch me_."

He waited for both women to obey his orders and arranged himself cross-legged on the floor. The girls shared a look, both surprised that he wasn't going to use the TARDIS for whatever he had planned. Sensing the need for quiet, both remained silent and watched as the Doctor dropped into a deep trance, hardly seeming to breathe. Moments passed and Tegan was beginning to get restless. She had just take a step away from the wall when the Doctor stiffened and a brilliant glow surrounded him, becoming brighter and brighter until Tegan's eyes watered from looking at it. She blinked and when she opened her eyes, the Doctor had vanished.

Moments that seemed like hours passed for the two women as they waited for something, anything, to happen. After the Doctor had vanished, Tegan and Nyssa had quickly gone to the area where the Doctor had been last. They found nothing unusual, no invisible solid object that might be the Doctor, no scorch marks, and the deck where he had sat wasn't even warm. The girls sat down against the wall, too shocked and confused to put their thoughts to voice.

It must have been nearly half an hour since the Doctor had gone when Tegan finally began to speak, "Wh-where do you think..." She was interrupted by another brilliant flash as the Doctor reappeared, swaying slightly on his feet and cradling a shocked looking Adric. He gently set Adric onto the floor and moved over to the console and watched wearily as both Tegan and Nyssa threw themselves onto Adric. He nodded to himself and moved to set new coordinates, marveling slightly at how much his hand shook as he pulled the lever. Once in flight, the Doctor quietly left the console room, unnoticed as the joyful reunion continued. In the console room, the girls were finally able to stop crying.

Tegan raised red eyes and smiled a watery smile at Adric, "We're _so_ glad that you're alive! You have to tell us everything!" She insisted.

Nyssa smiled as well, a light of humor entering her eyes, "Yes, starting with how you came to be trapped on the freighter when" ,she punctuated her last few words with teasing pokes into Adric's chest, "everyone else got away."

Adric quickly told them about the logic code locks on the navigation system, how he had cracked all but one before the cyberman had destroyed the instrument panel. A faraway look came into his eyes, "And then things got really strange..."

_ Flashback: _Adric was out of options. He stared at the ever enlarging image of the Earth much as the mouse who, hypnotized by the snake's dance of death, finds itself paralyzed, unable to move until the snake's strike ends it's life. He twisted his shirt fitfully in his hands, wishing heartily that he hadn't insisted on staying aboard the damned freighter. A bright flash startled Adric, wrenching his eyes away from the encroaching doom on the view screen. Adric was shocked beyond words to see the Doctor standing there, surrounded by an eldritch glow.

"Come Adric," he said, moving quickly to Adric's side. "We haven't much time. Please listen carefully. This freighter was always supposed to crash into the earth, it was this explosion that ended the reign of the dinosaurs and allowed the rise of the mammal and eventually man. However, I fear it's even more complicated than that." He turned to Adric, who had to stop himself from taking a step back in fear, for the Doctor's eyes glowed from deep within with the same argent light. "Have you never wondered at how similar humans are to Alzarians," he asked, "to you yourself?" He glanced at the view screen and the sense of urgency doubled, causing his words to trip over each other in haste, "They too emerged from the waters and swamps, they are resilient like you, and they even have developed a similar intelligence level. All of this development occurred at an accelerated pace when compared to almost every other intelligent species. And Adric," he added, running a hand over his face, "I keep medical records on everyone who travels in my ship. Did you know that large portions of your genes are almost identical to those in Tegan? The level of duplication is mathematically inconceivable unless one adds in some sort of catalyst."

Adric's eyes widened in horror, "Doctor, are you saying that it was _me_? My presence on board the freighter is what triggered the development of an entire species?" The Doctor nodded briefly.

"Then you can't save me? I have to die?"

The Doctor sighed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I'm very sorry Adric, but I'm afraid that I have to ask you to cut your hand." _End Flashback_

Adric looked up from his reminiscences, "The Doctor had me leave my blood in many locations on the bridge. At first, I thought it was random, but then I started to see some sort of pattern. I had this...sense that he was seeing two realities at the same time. He seemed to slip in and out of phase and his eyes were focused on something I couldn't see. Finally, we stopped. By that time, I was beginning to feel slightly woozy from the blood loss and so I didn't protest when the Doctor picked me up. I looked at the view screen and saw flames shooting up around the ship from entering the atmosphere," he shook his head in amazement, "everything just faded out like an old photograph. I felt an icy cold and forces pulling me in all directions. I thought that I was going to be torn apart, but the Doctor tightened his hold on me and I felt some strange form of energy emanating from him. Everything seemed to stabilize, and the next thing I knew, here I was - back in the TARDIS." He looked at his spellbound audience, "That's all," he concluded, "and I'll still never know if my solution for the last code was correct," he added regretfully.

Nyssa smiled brightly and hugged Adric again, "An amazing story Adric. I'm so glad you're back!"

"How's your hand?" Tegan asked.

Adric grinned at her, "I'm Alzarian," he reminded loftily, "whether or not you share some of my genes, I _still_ heal faster than you." He presented his hand for inspection and indeed, the flesh was smooth and unblemished.

Nyssa shook her head in wonder, "No wonder the Doctor warned us about the potential consequences of changing the past. Had he just taken you off of the ship without thinking, the entire human race would have disappeared!" She looked around, "Where is the Doctor anyway?" Tegan shrugged, "probably off working somewhere."

Nyssa's gaze sharpened reproachfully, "Tegan," she chided, "you said some truly terrible things to him." Tegan flushed guiltily. "I think you owe him an apology."

Tegan hung her head slightly, "Sometimes, my mouth just runs away without me. I didn't _really_ mean what I said...I was just so angry that it slipped out. Mouth on legs - that's me."

Nyssa nodded, "I know you didn't mean it, but you should definitely apologize sooner rather than later." A slight shuddering distracted her, she glanced at the column, "Oh! We've landed."

"I'll worry about that later," said Tegan. "I'm off to find the Doctor. I guess he'll be in his room - assuming he has one." She paused, realizing how little she really knew about the Doctor. Well, she supposed that she would just have to brave the maze of corridors once again. The ship might be massive, but even the TARDIS had to end somewhere...right?

She started for the door but was stopped by Nyssa, "Maybe we could find some sort of schematic of the ship in the TARDIS data bank that would show where the Doctor's quarters are?" she suggested.

Adric seemed to recall something and held up a hand, "We may not have to," he said excitedly. "The Doctor and I were talking a while back and he mentioned that the TARDIS was partially sentient. He always refers to it as a 'she'. I'll bet we could ask her for help finding the Doctor!" Tegan looked skeptical, but Nyssa beamed approvingly, "That's brilliant Adric!" she enthused. "Well, go on Tegan."

Tegan looked toward the ceiling. "Hey TARDIS," she said hesitantly, feeling ridiculous, "I need to find the Doctor to apologize, can you help me?" There was a soft hum from the TARDIS and then a narrow strip of green lights leading away from the console room illuminated. _Well here goes nothing_, Tegan thought, and began on her way. Nyssa and Adric remained in the console room where Nyssa regaled Adric with what had happened to them while Adric was gone and Adric wondered at the mathematical improbability of his own experience.

A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed! I really appreciate it! By the way, we are getting close to the whole reason I have been posting this story ;).


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter is my primary reason for posting the story. Thanks to all of you who have been reading and reviewing. I hope you all enjoy!

Tegan had already gone deeper into the ship than she thought possible and the lights led on. Her illuminated guide led her to take a turn down an unremarkable hallway that she otherwise would have missed and stopped near the end next to an unmarked doorway. "He's here huh?" Tegan said to the wall, and the lights flashed once in affirmation. She knocked tentatively and received no answer. "Look Doctor," she said to the door, "I know that you're angry with me and you have a right to be. I said some terrible things to you and I'm sorry!" There was still not the slightest sound from inside the room and Tegan raised her voice, "I'm trying to apologize here." Her hand lifted and she knocked more firmly, quite surprised when the door came slightly ajar. "Doctor?" she questioned, a slight hint of worry coloring her tone. Silence. Gathering her courage together, Tegan pushed the door wider and found herself seeing for the first time the Doctor's room. It was done in soothing earth tones, the beige walls complimented tastefully with accents of blue and green. The lighting was bright, without the artificial glare of the normal TARDIS lights and a small lamp on the antique writing desk illuminated a small diary, pages half filled with a strange flowing script that Tegan would not have been able to read. On her right was a comfortable looking bed. Here the lighting was dimmer and shadows crept along the floor like living things. So it was that Tegan nearly missed the huddled form of the Doctor, crumpled on the floor by the night stand.

"Doctor!" Tegan yelped, her hand going to her mouth in shock. She darted over and reached for his shoulder, shaking him slightly, "Doctor!" she called insistently and shook him harder. But the Doctor's form moved limply as she shook him, his face pale and still and Tegan couldn't even tell if he was breathing. She reached out and tentatively brushed the hair out of his face, finding him burning to the touch. Thoroughly frightened now, she reached out, fingers fumbling at his neck to find his pulse. He was alive, but Tegan was unsure if he would stay that way. His strange double pulse seemed to limp under her fingertips. She bit her lip worriedly and glanced toward the door and back to the Doctor. "Hold on Doctor," she implored. "I'm going for help. Just wait here." And with a mental eyeroll at the folly of _that_ statement, she sprinted away, following the still illuminated guidance lights back to the console room. Tegan burst into the console room like jack out of his box and conversation halted immediately, "Come quickly," she gasped, "there's something wrong with the Doctor!"

Nyssa knelt on the floor next to the Doctor, feeling for his pulse and then bending down to listen to his chest, first one side, then the other. "Why his hearts are barely beating!" she exclaimed, a definite note of fear in her voice. If possible, the Doctor looked even worse. His skin seemed almost translucent, and two spots of high color were beginning to ride the Doctor's cheekbones as his fever rose.

"What's wrong with him?" Tegan begged. For once in her independent life, she wished desperately for someone, _anyone_ to tell her what to do, to take charge and make it all better.

"I don't know," Nyssa said sadly, "and I know very little about his particular physiognomy."

Adric paced like a caged tiger, "This is because of me!" he wailed. "Whatever that energy was that he was radiating was too much for him. If only I'd left the freighter with everyone else!"

Nyssa rose from the floor. "Come on Tegan," she called, "I want you to look for information in the TARDIS data bank. Perhaps you can find some information on the Doctor's condition and a way to treat it. I'll head to the library and try to find a volume on Gallifreyan physiology." She glanced at Adric, "Adric, this isn't your fault. Pull yourself together - the Doctor needs _you_ now. Stay with him and try to cool him off with a cold washcloth. We'll be back as soon as we can." Adric nodded and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom to grab a cool cloth. When he returned, the girls were already gone.

In the console room, Tegan was becoming desperate. She had browsed through countless files without any success when something in the index file caught her eye. "Changing the past," the printout read, "see: laws of time, the".

Tegan leaned forward, hoping that this would lead to the information she was after. She quickly navigated to the relevant file and waited impatiently for it to load. The file had just blinked up onto the screen when Nyssa came into the room carrying a heavy volume, "Found anything?" she asked hopefully.

"Maybe," Tegan murmured, her Australian drawl becoming more pronounced as she tired, "I'll just read this aloud shall I?" Nyssa nodded in assent and Tegan began to read.

"Out of those laws governing time lords, one of the most iron clad is that which binds them from changing the past. As opposed to the other laws of time, breaking _this_ law carries its own punishment. According to historical records, the law was established following the great tragedy of Chiron. Account follows:" "At the dawn of the time lords, when Rassilon was yet young, a small child, the only son of Prydonian lord Chiron, did chance to be playing on the mountainside. Far from home had the young boy strayed, heedless of his surroundings and unable to hear the cries of the search party sent to track him. The search party was formed by Chiron and the young lords Rassilon and Omega. Great friends of Chiron, Rassilon and Omega were determined that their friend should not suffer the loss of his child. Long hours passed and the boy climbed ever higher up the crag, driven by a child's reckless curiosity to see what was at the top. The search party at last caught sight of the errant child and Chiron let out a glad cry. Startled by the suddenness of the call, the child missed his footing and tumbled to his ruin on the mountainside. So terrible were the boy's injuries that the fires of regeneration were quenched by the rising tide of death and young Theus did breathe his last long before any could aid him. Stricken with grief, lord Chiron fell to his knees and refused to move. It was decided that Omega would remain with their friend while Rassilon, the more sure-footed of the pair, would climb down to the boy."

"Long before he reached him, Rassilon could see that the child was dead, but for the sake of his friend, he would retrieve the body. On scooping up the small frame, Rassilon chanced to see a strange rock buried halfway in the earth. Curious despite the tragedy, he wrested the small object from the ground and placed it in his pocket, finding it impossibly heavy for its small size. He struggled long to carry the boy's body back to his grieving father."

"In the days that followed, Omega remained close by his grieving friend's side trying to shake him from the paralysis that had seized him. Less comfortable in the face of his friend's tremendous grief, Rassilon returned to the city, determined to learn more about the strange stone from the mountainside. Three days after the fall of Theus, Omega watched in despair as the lord Chiron seemed to drop further and further inside himself. Driven half mad by the loss of his son, it was then in his grief that lord Chiron did fuse together his artron energy with that of his own life force. The powerful combination tore a fissure in the natural flux of time through which Chiron walked, disappearing in a brilliant flash of light before the amazed eyes of his friend. Scarcely had he been away when he reappeared, still surrounded by a fierce corona of fire, and cradling a living Theus in his arms."

"Only moments had passed when Chiron collapsed. He was seized with a terrible fever which normal remedies could not touch and all his life signs did progressively weaken. As his fever rose, he called out, gripped as he was by hellish nightmares. Omega could do little in his aid and sat long with him, listening to his friend's ravings and trying to keep young Theus calm. During the course of that long night, Chiron sat suddenly upright and in a terrible voice unlike his own began a garbled account of the things he had seen in his nightmares. Using the last of his energy in the telling, Chiron did fall dead and Omega was sick at heart. He gently arranged his friend's limbs as if he were in repose and rose. Horrified, but with firm resolve, Omega took up a pillow and slew young Theus as he slept. For in his last agony, Chiron had conveyed a terrible knowledge. Walking so through time had awoken his time sense and so in his nightmares did Chiron see truly. In saving his son, the lord Chiron birthed an alternative reality in which the time lords never became, never achieved time travel, and never stepped in to fight their war with the great vampires, allowing countless worlds to go dark. For the stone that lord Rassilon discovered on the day Theus died was a fragment of the great eye of harmony and later, the heart of the rod of Rassilon. 'Twas these artifacts that made possible the development of time travel. For with the rod of Rassilon was the black hole's power harnessed. The pivot, the crux of these alternate timelines was the life of the young boy Theus. Thus informed did Omega make his terrible choice.

Long and long was it before Omega told Rassilon the truth, fracturing their friendship and perhaps plotting Omega's course into the black hole itself. Longer still was it before these facts passed into record and the new law came into being." Account ends. Related information: see Venusian cultural reference: Chiral reality. See Earth mythology: The tale of Chiron and Prometheus. End file.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Huge apologies for the long wait. My drive crashed. This is only a short chapter. More will follow after the holidays. Merry Christmas to you all!

Tegan turned haunted eyes to Nyssa, "Does this mean the Doctor's going to die?" she asked.

"I don't know," she murmured, "I just don't know."

"Well I'm not just going to stand here waiting for him to die," Tegan said fiercely. "That story sounded like ancient history. Maybe the Doctor has more advanced medicine now." She glanced at Nyssa and nodded firmly, "Come on," she said, "bring that book on Gallifreyan physiology. We're going to get the Doctor to the sick bay and we're going to figure out a way to fix this."

"But we don't even know what's wrong with him," Nyssa countered.

"Maybe not," Tegan huffed, "but I _do_ know that the Doctor will be more comfortable in a proper bed."

But Nyssa was no longer paying attention, she was staring, transfixed by something over Tegan's shoulder. Bracing herself, she turned to find the Doctor standing there. She and Nyssa started to run to him, confused but relieved beyond words, but the Doctor held up his hand, halting them in their tracks. "I'm not really here," he said gently, "I'm a mental projection detected and amplified by the psychic circuits of the TARDIS." His image wavered dizzyingly for a moment before stabilizing. He gestured at himself, "It would appear that I have rather less time than I thought," he added apologetically. "Doctor, what's wrong with you?" Nyssa asked. "I had to use a tremendous amount of energy in order to save Adric. I drained my artron energy down to almost nothing I'm afraid. My current condition is the result of energy shock." "Just tell us how to fix you Doctor!" Tegan begged. "Do you know," he said, almost in wonder, "I really haven't the slightest idea." Before the girls could protest he raised a hand again, wavering even more. Once again, he stabilized, but this time the Doctor's strain could be seen through the tension in the line of his jaw. "I really haven't any time to waste," he insisted, panting slightly with the effort. "Listen, I have the strongest feeling that you should pay attention to anything I might say while unconscious - even if it seems like nonsense. I do feel that there's an answer to this...something on the edge of my mind..." "Tell us Doctor!" Nyssa urged. But the image of the Doctor had begun to break up once again and this time, he began to fade out completely. "Doctor please! How do we help you?" Tegan wailed. In the silence that followed, Tegan thought she heard the faintest of replies like the ghost of a whisper, "Brave heart Tegan."

The two girls stood in silence, staring at the place the Doctor had been standing. Tegan shook herself and nodded at Nyssa, "Come on, lets get back to the Doctor and Adric."

They found Adric seated on the floor cradling the Doctor's head and gently wiping his brow with a damp cloth. He seemed lost in thought and jumped horribly when Tegan touched his shoulder.

"Find anything?" he asked without much hope.

Nyssa was checking the Doctor's pulse again. Tegan crouched down next to her, her eyes questioning urgently.

"No change," Nyssa said quietly. Tegan looked disappointed. "But that in itself may be a good thing. It means that he's holding his own for now."

Tegan pulled herself upright, "Well Adric," she said, "we have quite a story to tell you. Let's get the Doctor moved to the sick bay and then I've got something to show you."

The Doctor was settled comfortably in the sick bay. Tegan had taken Adric to the console room to read the entry they had found, leaving Nyssa to look after the Doctor. She was working at the console, trying to figure out how to calibrate the settings to scan a time lord instead of a human. She was sure that there was a default program somewhere in the mainframe, but the programming was the most advanced she had ever seen. She hoped that the system was programmed to respond to a user query because despite her formidable technical abilities, this technology defied her understanding. She continued to search through the coding and something clicked in her mind: there, embedded within the operating system was a subprotocol - some kind of user interface. Nyssa punched a few keys and activated it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the Doctor - the _fourth_ Doctor appeared from thin air and grinned impishly at her. His eyes roved around the room and settled on the silent figure in the bed.

"Gotten myself into a scrape have I?" He turned back to Nyssa, who was still staring at him, bug eyed. He grinned wider, showing all of his teeth, "Hello Nyssa, I'm the med bay holo-interface." He glanced back at the figure on the bed, "It would appear that I have not had the time to reprogram the interface to reflect my current appearance." He walked energetically to the console and gestured imperiously to Nyssa, "Well come on," he chided, "don't just stand there staring like a Tydonian - no eyelids you know. We've got work to do."


End file.
